Gayle Rubin's "Thinking Sex"- Sex Hierarchy in Contemporary Society

          According to Gayle Rubin in “Thinking Sex”, western cultures treat sex with “suspicion”.  Though the idea that sex is a natural phenomenon persists, Rubin believes that the society shaped it and appraised it according to a hierarchal system.  Within the pyramid, married heterosexual couples are at the top of the hierarchy where “respect, legality, social and physical mobility, institutional support and material benefits” (Rubin) are bestowed upon them. On the other hand, homosexual couples lie just above the bottom strata of the pyramid where they are socially stigmatized for practicing sexual behaviors that are considered as “mentally inferior and defective” (Rubin). Without doubt, homosexual couples are underprivileged and unprotected by law today. The contemporary society strictly defines marriage as a legal union between opposite sexes.  Consequently, homosexual couples are deprived of very basic human decencies such as getting married or receiving health care, which suggests that their position in the hierarchy remains the same as it has in the past.

          Highly embracing of sexual diversity the contemporary society may seem, however, it still adheres to “The Charmed Circle” Rubin introduces. The circle distinguishes the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ forms of sexuality. The inner circle represents acceptable types of sex that are heterosexual, married, reproductive and private whereas the outer circle represents the abnormal types of sex that are homosexual, unmarried, and promiscuous. Such classification is indeed highly reflective of modern society’s view of sexuality. Yet, the idea that sexuality can be defined as either good or bad lacks generosity to acknowledge that “variation is a fundamental property of all life ” (Rubin).